In God we trust, but also — sometimes — the third time’s the charm.
That’s where Senator Mike Azinger is. The Republican from Wood County has pushed several legislative sessions in a row for a bill to display “In God We Trust” on signage in schools.
Last year’s version passed the state Senate within the first couple of weeks of last year’s legislative session. That bill passed the House of Delegates, too, but with a slight change that the two chambers had to work out. Senators changed the bill yet again, sent the bill back to the House and time expired before any resolution.
That meant the bill was dead at midnight on Day 60.
“There were some code problems. I don’t know how it happened; I have some suspicions of shenanigans. But they sent it back over here to the Senate, we fixed it, sent it back at the 11:45 hour or something to that effect and never saw it again,” Azinger said today.
This year, Azinger is trying again. Today, just prior to the halfway point of this year’s regular session, senators again passed the bill, 33-1.
“I have higher hopes. I don’t have high hopes, but I have higher hopes this year than I did last year for it,” he said in a quick interview after today’s floor session.
Senate Bill 280 would require the display of “In God We Trust,” accompanied by a U.S. flag representation, in all classrooms of public elementary, secondary and higher education institutions. The bill also specifies the requirement for charter schools.
The requirement is contingent upon donation or funding for durable posters or framed copies.
“In God We Trust” has been considered the national motto since 1956 when Congress passed a resolution with the designation.
The national embrace of the motto dates to the Civil War, when the government minted coins with the phrase “In God We Trust.”
Azinger said he is passionate about “In God We Trust” because of his core beliefs.
“The reason first that I love it, to be quite transparent about it, is because it has God in it. I think that we’ve removed God from the culture. We’ve removed God from the schools. And we’ve become a secular society, and we’ve paid the price in a lot of ways for that,” he said.
“Second thing I like about it is that it’s our national motto. I think if you asked a lot of people what’s our national motto, a lot of people would say ‘Well, it’s E Pluribus Unum’ or whatever — but it’s ‘In God We Trust.’ The Eisenhower administration put ‘In God We Trust’ in our bills and made it clear that ‘In God We Trust’ was our national motto.”
There was no debate on the Senate floor about religion, a view of the almighty or the diversity of public school populations.
A recent study showed that 78.6% of West Virginians identify as Christian. The same study showed that just over 16% of West Virginians do not identify with a religion. Just .3 percent of state residents identify as non-Christian faiths such as Jewish, Muslim or Hindu. And 4.9% said they identify as something else.
Azinger emphasized that a Christian viewpoint is at the center of his support for displaying the motto.
“It has historical roots, and it’s a reflection of our culture that may be a schism of Christianity now. But prior to the ’60s, I think we were monolithically Christian, and I think we need to be again.”
As for the bill, there’s plenty of time remaining in the legislative session, which concludes April 12.
But even bills that pass one chamber early on can lag in the other chamber. Sometimes bills are held up as bargaining chips between the House and Senate.
“The challenge will be getting it up on the committee agenda in Education because they’re running House bills over there, and Senate bills take second place like vice versa over here,” Azinger said.
“But I think it’s got a real good chance.”